Astori: New Cagliari mindset

Davide Astori believes Massimo Ficcadenti’s return to the club has brought about the change in attitude that the dressing room needed.

Davide Astori believes Massimo Ficcadenti’s return to the club has brought about the change in attitude that the dressing room needed.

Davide Ballardini was relieved of his duties after the Sardinians’ 6-3 mauling away to Napoli in Week 27, with Ficcadenti, himself sacked earlier in the season, returning to the bench.

“Probably it was right to say that we had dropped in tension,” Italian defender Astori told the Corriere dello Sport.

“Perhaps later we realised what was happening and then it became almost too difficult to recover from.”

The team’s first game with Ficcadenti back was a 3-0 win over Cesena, where the clean sheet was a welcome change from the 11 goals conceded in the previous three outings.

“We wanted to improve because we knew were not playing for Cagliari. Against Cesena, [Mauricio] Pinilla was very helpful, scoring three goals, but I think that it has been a change of mindset that has made the most difference.”

Cagliari travel to Rome in Week 29 to face Champions League qualification hopefuls Lazio in a game that Astori promised the islanders will be ambitious in.

“I believe that already on more than one occasion we have shown that we can play against anyone.”